The Kami Blade
by Fayt Linegod
Summary: Ranma meets an ancient spirit who allows him to go to the past to see a part of his destiny. His coming hardships do have some good, namely, the long awaited cure. Some OOCness possible, do try not to complain too much about it. I will do what I can.
1. Spirit Arise

Disclaimer: All characters from Ranma ½ are rightfully owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I make no claims whatsoever on what is not mine, this work is purely for the entertainment of those who wish to read.

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The Kami Blade 

Chapter 1: Spirit Arise

_It was raining hard as Ranma (in his girl form of course!) made his way through the sparse forest somewhere near the Chinese border._

"Aww shit! Why does this always happen to me. I'm sick of this stupid body that robs me of my real self every time it rains!"

_Ranma was getting tired of his constant, water-based transformation. So he had escaped from the Tendo house sometime in the middle of the night._

"Ahh well…I guess I should just find a shelter and rest until it stops raining."

_So he settled in a little hole large enough to contain, and protect him from the rain, and just freed his spirit._

FLASHBACK

_Early morning in the Tendo house, Ranma has woken up early for some unknown reason. As he walks through the silent household, he hears a voice in his head._

_Hear my plea wild one_

"What! Who is it? Who's talking to me?"

_I am the spirit of goraikou, a blade forged long ago for one such as you, capable of defeating a god and restoring the order._

"wha…"

_Wait, go to the dojo and seal all the entrances, I can manifest myself there. _

_Without question, Ranma went and did as the spirit commanded. Once the doors had been sealed, the air started shimmering around Ranma and he found himself being transported through space as a bodiless soul._

"What is this? What are you doing spirit?"

_Worry not wild one, I am transporting you to the time of your predecessor. _

And as soon as the spirit finished speaking, ranma felt solid ground once again.

"You've got some explanation for this I suppose?"

_Now, listen attentively. I have brought you here so that you may learn the motives of your predecessor. There is a time lock on you so you will not age during the time you spend here, but in consequence, you will be unable to contact any of the beings that you will be observing. _

"Darn, that sucks."

_There is one possibility however…if you wish, I can place your spirit into the body of one closely linked to your precursor. _

"Speak no longer, we both know what I want."

_As you wish. Remember, I shall be at your side only in the most precarious of situations, may the spirit of your ancestors be with you. _

_And with a whirl of energy-filled air, Ranma was caught in a whirlwind that projects him into the body of his predecessors best friend…Tara._


	2. Who's Gonna Win

Disclaimer:

Ranma and associated locations, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have not intention of pursuing legal rights to them. This work is purely for the benefit of its readers, and my own authorhood.

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The Kami Blade 

Chapter 2: Who's Gonna Win

_Ranma was caught in a whirlwind that projects him into the body of his predecessors best friend…Tara._

_As Ranma realized what had happened he started banging his head against the wall._

"Oh crap! How could I be so stupid! I should have known…considering my horrible luck already."

_In the other room, Ronan was reading a scroll describing a particularly difficult technique for concentrating one's thoughts with a power capable of shielding the mind from psychokinetic blows._

"Right on! That way, not even a god will be able to use any mind boggling tactics against me..."

_It was then that he heard some strange banging noise coming from the room next to his._

"Hey, where is that weird banging coming from? Tara?"

_Ronan slowly opened the door to his friend's room to see her next to the wall and banging her head rather hard against it._

"Hey Tara? What's wrong?"

"Ohh, shit!" _Thought Ranma. _"I almost forgot about him" _And he abruptly stopped banging his head against the wall._

"Umm, hi?" _Ranma said a little awkwardly._

"Why were you banging your head against the wall?" _Asked Ronan._

"Oh, that…heh, heh." _Said Ranma, while scratching the back of his head._

'_Come on man get your act together!'_

"That was uh, nothing! Forget about it! Yeah…"

"Well then, are you bored or something? It's only seven in the morning, and I was reading some stuff in the other room."

'Uh-oh. Is he in the same house as me. All alone…' 

"Well, if you feel like doing something, let me know, I'll be in the other room." _Said Ronan as he left the room._

"Okay… now what am I gonna do? At least I'm already dressed. She must have been about to go out as I arrived. Cool, she's not the "lady" type, I won't have to worry about make-up or fancy dresses and such. That's one worry off my mind."

_So Ranma went out of the room to find himself in a rather large hall-like area, "Like the halls in the Tendo house." Thought Ranma. He proceeded to the kitchen/living room. (They were pretty much separated only by half walls without doors leaving the way open between the two.) As he (or she for Tara) entered the room, he saw Ronan reading the scroll on the couch, so he went towards him and sat down intent on clearing up a few matters._

"Hey there. Can I talk for a sec'?"

"Sure Tara, what do you want?"

"Well, uh, is there anyone else in this house?"_ asked Ranma._

"Huh?"_ said Ronan_. "What do you mean?"

"Well, is there anyone else here except for you and me?"

"Oh. Well, Wren and Jade went out to the market to get some stuff for us all. We were running out of food for dinner mostly."

"Sounds good. Thanks!"

"No problem."

"What's that you're reading?" _asked Ranma._

"What, this?" _said Ronan, showing the scroll._

"Yeah. What's it say?"

"It's just a description of how to put up a mental block so that nothing can get into my head if you know what I mean."

_A memory flooded into Ranma's head at that moment showing Ronan with a huge blade trying to get at her, with two others that looked like they would be Wren and Jade holding him back; All the while, Tara telling Ronan to get a hold of himself._

"Oh, man. That's pretty bad."

"What?"

"I was just thinking of that time when you were trying to attack us all."

"Yeah, well, now that you've said it, I guess you can see why I'm trying to learn this technique."

"Can I have a look at it?" _asked Ranma._

"Sure, I'll go get my stuff." said Ronan

"Stuff, where are you going?"

"Today's the competition remember? I'm facing off against the top five martial artists in Japan."

"Oh that's cool." _Said Ranma who was starting to read the scroll, amazed at its complexity._

"When you're done checking it out, you could get your jacket, if you want to come watch."

"O.K." _said Ranma._

_'Now let's see, it says to concentrate all your chi in your mind, not anywhere else, so that your aura is indistinguishable. Not too hard. Then, you think of what you want to do. In the case of blocking mental intrusions, it is wise to gather as much chi as possible, as the strength of the shield relies directly on the amount of spiritual energy gathered. Hey, this is kinda like when Akane summons her mallet. I could do this. Now, if I want to do other stuff, let's see, gather your thoughts and shape them with your chi, in this way, you can create your own weapons or other tools that you might want to use._

"I'm ready, if you want to come, I'm leaving now."

"Ok Ronan, let's go." _Said Ranma. Then_, "Wait, shouldn't we wait for Wren?"

"That's ok, he has some other stuff to do."

_So the two left the hose, Ronan locking the door, and they started off in the direction of the large temple-like structure not too far away. As they set off, Ranma jumped onto the fence like he usually did, and started walking._

"Tara? What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just to practice my balance, that way I'll be ready for anything."

"Strange, I never would have expected that of you…Anyways, let's just hurry up and get there."

_So they walked in silence to the center and as they arrived, Ranma hopped down from the fence to go into the building. As they entered, a booming voice announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the finals of the 50th annual martial arts competition of Japan. Here we have the five finalists, now who will come out victorious, it is a mystery, all our contestants are in perfect shape, and have been training for a long time to get to this level. May the best man win!_

"Man, this is crazy."_ Said Ranma._

"Yes, it is always extremely chaotic in here during the finals, but you've seen nothing yet! Wait 'till the end, and see what happens to the winner. If I win, I'm going to run away as fast as possible to avoid any unwanted attention."

"Ha, ha, yeah."

"Well, I must go into the preparation room. Try to find yourself a good seat."

"See ya later Ronan."

_As Ronan departed, Ranma went to find a seat where he could get a pretty good view of the competition._

_'Well, let's see just how good this guy is.'_

"And now for our first contestants, Shogun Kuno, and Garesu Feruton."

"Interesting, let's see how long they can endure."

_The two men bowed to each other and then adopted their individual battle stance. This was an armed competition so each took out their blades and waited for the other to make the first move. After a few moments, Gareth struck Kuno in the side but was parried by a left-sided block. Now the battle was started. Ranma watched the two fight for a long while, and neither men were giving ground so he decided to have a little fun._

'Let's see if that scroll really works.'

_So Ranma concentrated and decided to see if he could drop a little banner from the ceiling saying "Get on with it" He gathered his force and sent it out. Moments later, a large cloth fell from the ceiling and covered Kuno. Gareth was not a dishonourable man so he waited for Kuno to break free of the sheet, all the while scanning the area for any more potential disturbances._

'Did it work?' _thought Ranma_

_But a little higher over the competitiors, a man had carelessly forgotten to attach a banner properly and so it fell onto the fighters and caused an uproar, as Kuno was waving around trying to get rid of the thing, and Gareth just stood there. It certainly looked a lot different from the audience's point of view._

"How many times must I tell you, make sure your stupid jobs are done properly, if it weren't for your clumsiness, the battle would be over by now."

"But boss, look on the good side, the crowd is enjoying themselves."

"Baka! Forget it. Just watch out next time."

_Meanwhile, Kuno had finally extirpated himself from the hindrance, and the battle resumed. It was finished quickly because Kuno was determined to get himself out of an embarrassing situation._

_Later on, the tournament was drawing to a close and the two fighters left were Ronan and Kuno. The winner would get a large sum of prize winnings and the title of national champion for a year. This battle meant a lot. So, as Ronan entered the side opposite Kuno, the crowd got very silent. These two needed their concentration for the duration of the fight. The announcer stood up and declared the fight started._

"To you general, take the first move."

"No. You may go first, young one."

_So Ronan launched himself at Kuno with a downward slash, parried by Kuno's blade, but before his opponent could get a hit in, he jumped away._

"Indeed, I must not underestimate your skill, you seem to have some after all."

"That is all?.

_And with that, Kuno attacked. A spike to the abdomen, and Ronan swirled, letting his blade rotate with him, hitting Kuno in the chest with the flat of his blade. "Oumph" exclaimed Kuno. Then the general turned around and hit Ronan's sword arm, making him drop it, but Ronan was swift and he dodged the blow, yet without being able to perform a counter-strike for Kuno was already back at it hacking away with his blade with strength enough to send a man flying. Fortunately, Ronan had practiced against this sort of thing and he knew to position himself just so, that the blade impacted upon his own with only an eighth of its original force. Meanwhile, Kuno was wondering why, Ronan seemed to parry al his strikes without so much as a grunt of exertion. All this time, Ranma watched attentively, seeking flaws in both contestants' defence, but he spotted little that he would have been able to exploit in terms of weaknesses. Indeed these two were skilled fighters. Now, Kuno, seeing that his current offensive was ineffective, changed his tactics. He lured Ronan into a false dodge and swatted at his blade hard to knock it to the ground, he almost succeeded, but Ronan tripped and was therefore able to avoid the blow. This having caught Kuno completely unawares, Ronan used his blade to hit hard against the back of Kuno's neck causing him to fall down, face-first onto the ground. As Kuno tried to get up, Ronan held his blade to his throat, saying, "Do you yield?" and as an answer, Kuno used his legs to sweep Ronan off his feet, and went to retrieve his blade. Ranma, seeing this said:_

"Aww man, you left yourself wide open. That's what happens when we think it's over too fast."

_Ronan quickly got up and faced his opponent. "That was a good trick you played on me, now let's see you handle this." Ronan slashed the air three times. The force of the air hit Kuno squarely in the stomach and sent him flying against the wall. Then Ronan jumped and brought his blade down in a way that Kuno could only roll away from the blow, and away from his weapon. Seeing this, Kuno took his blade and quickly took his blade and threw it with all his might at Ronan, who, not expecting such swift retribution, dodged in mid-air and fell to the ground with a resounding THUD. Kuno got up and retrieved his blade thinking it was over but, Ronan got up and flipped his way to his opponent's sword and, grabbing it, threw both it and his own at Kuno's shoulders . The blades caught onto his garb and pulled him through the air to hit hard the side of the ring and plant themselves in to the wall. In this manner, Kuno was pinned to the wall, out of the ring, and Ronan had won._

"I have won."_ Said Ronan and then he collapsed._

"We have a winner! Congratulations, Ronan, you have won the 50th annual martial arts competition. You will be awarded with your prize that you may come and claim when you are most fit to do so. Heh Heh."

_A bunch of people got ready to storm the winner when suddenly, a figure landed next to him, and said:_

"I now fulfill his wish."

_With that, the figure took a hold of Ronan and Jumped out the stadium through the roof._


	3. The Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any associated copyright material. They are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and are distributed in America by Viz. Any other similarity between characters in the story and other copyright material is purely coincidential.

Previously…

"I now fulfill his wish."

With that, the figure took a hold of Ronan and Jumped out the stadium through the roof.

The Kami Blade

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

The entire crowd of people who were rushing toward Ronan were caught by surprise when the figure popped in, took their target and disappeared. There were cries of dismay from some female members of the crowd, for obvious reasons. "He's such a hunk, Too bad he disappeared."

_Meanwhile, back at the ranch…_

"Ronan! Wake up!"

"Huh?" said Ronan a little groggily. "What happened? I remember, one second I was collapsing on the ground then the other I was flying through the air…was it you?"

"Never mind that now, at least you're alright." _Said Tara_

Right then she heard a knock on the door. "Stay here, I'll get it."

"Hey Tara! We just got back from the match, is Ronan here?"

"Oh, you must be Jade."

"Yeah…Hey Wren, they're here!" _shouted Jade to someone right outside the house._

Wren walked in just as Jade finished.

"No need to shout Jade, I can hear perfectly fine." _Said Wren._

"Hi Tara, where's Ronan?"

"Oh, he's in the living room, I was tending to his bruises." _Said Tara_

"Hah, just like a perfect woman, tending to other's wounds."

Jade sweat dropped.

"Hey! That's not it!" _exclaimed Tara._

Unruffled, Wren walked into the living room to see Ronan.

"Ahh, don't mind him he's always teasing." _Said Jade_

"Um, okay, thanks."

As the two girls walked in, Wren was helping Ronan up.

"You okay mate? Those were some pretty hot moves back there!"_ Wren started talking like the announcer, _"Oh look at that, Ronan has dodged a finishing blow from Kuno to then make his double- handed blade toss, how amazing! Let's watch and see what more he can throw at Kuno."

"Ha, ha, ha! What a great kidder." _Said Ronan getting up._

"So Ronan, are you up to going back to the center to get your reward?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just wiped out. We can leave as soon as I get a bite to eat."

Tara came out of the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches and a jug of iced tea.

"Here you go!" _said Tara as she took herself three on a separate plate._

"Nice, thanks Tara." _Came a grunt from Wren_, "We didn't even get to eat at the market, I had to keep the food for the week and got nothing to eat."

"Oh stop complaining Wren, It was either eat or go to the match. Did you want to miss Ronan's match?"

"Well, no, but…"

"No buts," _said Jade, _"We are eating now so just be quiet."

Wren grumbled but set himself up with a few sandwiches and started to eat.

After the quick lunch, they all headed back to the center for Ronan to claim his winnings.

"Hello, how may I help you?" _said a woman in the entrance to the center._

"I have come to get my winnings." _Said Ronan_

"Oh, you must be the one who defeated general Kuno, everyone was talking about it. They said you left without a word…"

"Yes, well, I'll be off."

"Of course. Have a nice day sir."

And the group went into the main room, to find the announcer standing near a table talking with the general Kuno that had been defeated.

"Hello, do you have my things?" _asked Ronan to the announcer._

"Oh, it is you, welcome back. Yes we have your prize, here it is." _And he stepped aside to reveal an amulet._

"I must tell you about it." _Said Kuno standing up. "_It comes from a long line of warriors, I have no more use for it, I am too old, but I know about your quest and this artifact will help you greatly."

"Thank you sir, I appreciate your gift." _Said Ronan. "But what does it do?"_

"I trust you will know what to do when the time comes young warrior. I must leave now." _Said the general Kuno. And he vanished in a whirlwind of gray and white. As he disappeared, the group heard a voice that said "Fear not, my time has passed and yours has come, stand together and you will be strong. There are some difficult times ahead, and you will need to have all the skills you can muster."_

"Wow! That was…indescribable." _Said Jade_

"Tell me about it!" _said Wren_

"Hey guys where's the announcer?" asked Ronan

"He left with Kuno. Like us, that man must have been his companion in his journeys." _Answered Tara_

"Well," _said Jade. _"We shouldn't just stand here. Let's go home!"

And the four of them left.

_A week later…_

"So Ronan, what do you make of this?" _asked Wren._

"I'm not sure, Kuno said that he was too old, that must mean it takes someone of beginning journeying age."

"Why don't you try on the amulet thingy?" _said Jade_

"O.K." _said Ronan._

_And as soon as he put on the amulet, he was enveloped in an eerie red glow, and then he vanished._

"Hey, where'd he go!"

"Darn, all we can do is wait and hope he's all right."

_Meanwhile, Ronan had stopped and he looked around, seeing what looked like outer space._

"Where am I?"

_You are in the realm of balance. I am the spirit that resides within your amulet._

"Alright, then, do you know of a man called Kuno who would have given me this artifact?"

_I am an immortal spirit, I have known many masters, he happens to be the last one I had. It has been a long time since I have seen a new master. You are not yet he, for you must be tested, but you wield the power of the light and seem worthy enough of the task._

"What!"

_Enough! Be at the ready. _

_And at this, Ronan was transported to a separate chamber. It appeared empty, a great plane in the middle of nothingness._

"Great! I win a difficult tournament and my last opponent is the one who presents me with my reward, which is an amulet that supposedly will help me in a quest that I didn't even know I had! _/Sigh/ _And now, after placing the amulet around my neck, I get transported into an unknown realm, where a spirit tells me that I must pass a test and something about Wielding light…Man, I really am tired of this."

_A strong blow to the back of the head quickly interrupts his musings._

"What the!" _exclaimed Ronan._

_He looked around, but saw nothing at all._

"Crap! I suppose this is the test huh? Send me something I can't see to finish me off! Well, I won't let you!"

_And at that Ronan dropped into a trace-like state and the next moment, he was glowing like a torch. The aura that he gave off was enough to illuminate the area, not that there really was anything to see, but as he looked around, he spotted a wavering in the air, like heat on a cold day. He could see the outline of a slinking humanoid creature trying to make its way around him. Seeing this, he formed a blade out of a mix of his chi energy and the ki around him without really thinking about it._

"Come get me monster, so that I can defeat you and get out of here!" _yelled Ronan._

_SO, I see you are not totally helpless. You were able to conjure up your life force to identify me in the shadows. Now let us see what you make of THIS! said the creature of shadow, as it sent a powerful wave of psychic energy at Ronan, knocking him off his feet._

"Argh!" _grunted Ronan._

_As he got up, he spotted the creature, and gave a swipe at it. But his energy blade went through thin air._

'_Damn! I can't get to him. What'll I do!' thought Ronan_

_Perhaps you would like to know this. I can only be touched by mental attacks; physics have no effect on me. _

'_What! He can hear my thoughts!'_

_Yes, quite clearly in fact. _

'_Darn, wha…I got it!'_

_And at that, Ronan dropped to a meditative state, recovering a few moments later._

"HAH! Can you hear my thoughts now?" _said Ronan sounding triumphant._

_What have you done? This is most confusing, no mortal has ever hidden his mind from me before. No matter. To pass this test, you must try to hit me at least once with a psychic attack. Can you do this? If you succeed, you will have passed the test. _

'_Great, what do I do now, I am no psychic, I have no idea how to manipulate my mind, much less someone else's.' thought Ronan. 'But wait! What do I think I am doing now? That is exactly what I am doing, now let's see if I can use it the other way.'_

_And Ronan concentrated on sending his chi in a wave like that of the shadow._

_BLAST_

_Amazing! You have succeeded. Well done mortal, send my regards to the spirit. I have a feeling we shall meet again. _

_And with that the chamber vanished dropping Ronan back into the space pocket._

"Come! I have passed your test!" Ronan called out, hoping it would reach the spirit.

_You have done well. It appears that I shall be able to teach you in the ways of Balance. You have the Hikari seikon awaiting your command; you must simply learn to tap into it. In the meantime I believe you wish to return to your comrades? _

"That is what I wanted ever since I set foot here!" _Said Ronan_

_Of course. But before you leave, remember, I am at your calling; my name is Goraikou, the balance between light and darkness. _

_And as the words were spoken, Ronan found himself surrounded by a whirlwind of energy, and the next thing he new, he was back at his house, and no time had passed at all._

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Hi everyone! How was this chapter? I've decided to add some new aspects to the story. If any of you have ever played _Illusion of Gaia_ for Snes, then you have some Idea of what I meant by the space pocket. 

By the way, for those who are wondering, Ranma has not disappeared; I simply put him in his character.

Thank you for R&R, I appreciate comments on my work.

I will try to update on demand, I have a few important projects to finish for school.

Thank you all.

_Fayt_


	4. AN

Author's Note

I just wanted to thank reviewers for their positive comments, I have taken CERTAIN things into consideration but just remember, this is my story so I'm not just going to change it all because it's not going the way some people like it.

By the way, tell me what you think about the story and how it has started off. Should I go back a bit to Ranma in the real time? Is there something wrong with some of the material I've incorporated?

Also, I would like to know something.

In chapter two, the names of the people in the competition I checked out some things to give me an Idea of what to call them. Do you think I should just stick with names I am familiar with from The English language and not try too hard to place an atmosphere that says "Japan" ?

Thanks again for your commentary; in the future I will review the style of my chapters before posting them definitely.

Hah, I just noticed. Isn't it funny? All the comments that are more on the negative side in my reviews are from people with 1's at the end of their names…


	5. The Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any associated copyright material. They are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and are distributed in America by Viz. Any other similarity between characters in the story and other copyright material is purely coincidential.

* * *

Okay guys, you were right, the name Ronin kinda sounds funny, and unnamelike. I'll change all the old ones and these to Ronan, it's similar but sounds better.

* * *

The Kami Blade 

Chapter 4: The truth

_As soon as Ronan had disappeared, the group were wondering what had happened when he suddenly reappeared before them leaving no time between his disappearance and his reappearance._

"Ronan, What was that?" _said Jade as he reappeared. _"Well I'm not really sure myself, but I think I can explain to you what happened" _Answered Ronan_

_And so he told them all about the spirits and the "test" and how the spirit had made some mysterious remarks about Dark Energy or something like that._

"So, I take it you are going to try and discover more about this thing?" _said Wren, _"It sounds cool!"

"I will see about it." _Said Ronan_

_Meanwhile, Tara had left the room…_

'OK, let's see if meditating will get me a connection with that Gorai-whatever guy' and he/she adopted a meditative posture to release his consciousness to the spirit plane.

'_Hey spirit! You there?' Called Ranma, 'I need to know something.'_

_You called, what do you need? _

'_Well, I dunno how to explain it, but It's like as if "Tara" is battling my mind for power. It's freaky. I'm starting to do things I never did before and I guess that's cuz' it's stuff she does. Do you have something I could use to, like, ward her off or something?'_

_I will create a base for you spirit, so that Tara's does not override it. _

'_Thanks!'_

_Ranma, you are nearing the finishing stage in your journey through this time, I will soon release you from this time to bring you forward back to your own, make sure you see what you must, for it will be critical in the times to come. I will tell you more later. Do not forget Ranma… _

_And on this, Ranma got out of his trance-like state and went back to see the others._

"Hey, Tara! We're going on a trip; we need to find someone wise that could tell me more about this mysterious pendant." _Said Ronan_

"Ok then, I'm coming"_ said Ranma. 'Man, am I glad for the barrier thing, now I fell a lot less pressured.'_

_So they left the house after making some preparations, and they headed towards the Port to get into china, for they needed less-civilized areas to look for people who might know about the mysterious amulet._

_Two days later…_

"Guys, I'm tired of walking around in this forest, why couldn't we have just followed the path?" _complained Wren. _"Well, Wren, I don't know about you, but this feels familiar somehow." _Said Ronan_

"That _MIGHT_ be because we passed here ten times already!"_ exclaimed Jade. _"Oh really?"_ said Ronan, _"that would explain some…"

"Man you guys are hopeless." Said Tara. "There's no way well get anywhere with you two leading us. Now, follow the real leader!" "Hey! I don't like the insinuation. Just because I have a little trouble getting around doesn't mean that-" "That you have absolutely no sense of direction? Face it you're lost. Do you want to find your way again?" "Well, yeah?" "then just follow ME, I'll get us back on track.

And at that, they finally realized that they were walking in circles. 'I should of notched the trees, then we wouldn't have wasted so much time.' Thought Tara

Two hours later, the group came upon a clearing.

"Finally, something other than trees for a change!" _said Wren_

"Hey! Guys look at this!" _said Tara. _"What do you suppose it is?" "Huh? It looks like a tree. What else?" _said Ronan_ "Not there! This stake in the ground. There also seems to be a kind of notch in the stake, as if to place some type of jewel or something." _Said Tara _

"Hey! Look here. Come quick, I found out something strange." _Said Jade. _"What is it?" _said Wren._

"Look at the map, do you see something strange?" "Nope! Tell me." "Oh god, HERE look, this is where we are OK! Look, do you see any clearing?" "Uhh, no?" "THAT'S IT!" _Yelled Jade. _"The clearing we are currently in, isn't supposed to be here!"

"Hey Ronan! Try placing your amulet in the stake."_ Said Tara. _"Alright, here we go." _Said Ronan, as he placed the amulet in the notch._

_As soon as It was in place, the air started to waver, and slowly, a village started to form. The group was stunned, until a person walked up to them and said: _"Strangers! What is your name and how come you to find this place?"

A few hours later, the group had been brought before the matriarch of the community, and had told her their story. 

"So, if I understand correctly, you received a magical artifact and are looking for someone who could explain what it does?" _asked the matriarch._

"That is correct." _Said Ronan_

"Well, if you would allow me to see this artifact which you speak of, then perhaps I could help you…"

"Oh…right! How stupid of me. Here it is!" _and Ronan took out the amulet from his pack._

_The matriarch took it and examined it for a moment before asking, _"How did you get this young man?"

"I won a contest back in my home town and my opponent presented me with this amulet." _Said Ronan 'No use telling her right away about the spirit. I don't even know if we can trust them fully.' _"Does it have any value?"

"This artifact has a long story, it is said that long ago, before the creation of men, there was a battle between the light and the dark. The light was outnumbered and so they allowed the dark to overrun the planet. However, the light did not really wish to hand over the world to the dark, so they created a magical artifact that would allow the bearer to defeat beings as powerful as gods themselves. All that was left was to find a living being that could wield such power, so they created humans, an adaptable species, that were to live on the earth. Once they became strong, the artifact would come to the hands of the chosen one and he would rid the world of the foulness of dark." _Said the matriarch._

"So that would explain _Hikaru Seikon…_" _said Ronan_

"What did you say child?" _asked the Amazon. 'This cannot be, not now…'_

"Young one, this is serious, how do you know of this?"

'_I suppose I might as well tell her, it can't do much harm.' _"_Hikaru Seikon, _the deciding factor in a battle between chaos and order. The chosen one has come, I have seen the spirit." _Said Ronan, in a tone that was not quite his own._

"Then you must tell us, will they come again? We will help you as we can, but you must make sure they do not return." _Said the matriarch. _"By the way, my name is Khandi shuhn uhr, I am the eldest of the community."

"Conditioner? What the…!" _exclaimed Wren._ "This is getting absurd, I haven't a clue what your guys are saying, but I guess I could come along and help as I am needed."

"Do not worry young one, we will train you as we can to help in the defence of the planet." _Said the matriarch to Wren._

"Hey elder! Does this mean anything to you?" _said Tara, and she splintered a tree calling out "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"_

_When the shavings had cleared, the matriarch said, _" young one, how do you know this, it is a technique passed down to amazons only and I am under the impression that you are not of Amazon descent. Am I wrong?" "No, elder you are correct, this however is something that my friends cannot hear." _Said Tara. _"Guys, can I speak to conditioner alone for a bit?" "Sure, go ahead!" _'She was getting annoying with her "young one".'_

And so as Tara and the elder went away, the rest followed an Amazon to a place where they could sleep. And then they would start training the day after.

"So young one, tell me how you know this technique." _asked the matriarch._

"Well, I am not really this person which you see before you, I am in soul and spirit, using this body because a spirit in my own time called me to the task. My true name is Ranma, but before I say anymore, you must agree that you cannot tell anyone what I am about to tell you, because it could affect the very fabric of time."

"Agreed. I will not divulge these secrets to anyone."

And so Ranma proceeded to tell the matriarch his story.

"Incredible! So you say in a few centuries, there will be a group called the Joketsuzoku amazons that will settle in china?" _said the matriarch, _"I just hope I will be around to see."

"Yeah well, that's my story. Please don't tell any of my friends about it. They must believe that I'm the Tara that they have always known." _Said Ranma._

"Yes child, worry not. But now, we must go to sleep.

And the two set off in different directions, the elder having told Ranma where to go.

That night, Ranma dreamt that he and his friends would go by the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. "A horror that must be stopped at once! I cannot let this happen." And he spent the rest of the night planning subconsciously how he would go about preventing the group from ending up there.

I'm not quite done this chapter yet, but I thought I'd let you guys check it out.

Seeya soon!


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